When you install SQL Server, you would be prompted to enter a product key in order to install the correct Edition of SQL Server ( 2016, Enterprise, Standard etc.). You will not find the product key either on MSDN or on the Microsoft Volume Licensing site. In most cases, the product key is instead embedded in the MSI (Microsoft Installer) setup program. If you want to move from an Evaluation Edition to a full blown SQL Server, then you need to extract the product key from your purchased version of SQL Server. In this post, I am going to talk about exactly how to find SQL Server Product key under different scenarios.
Ideally, the “ Product Key” page populates with the correct product key. However, in a lot of cases, you would see the “ Product Key” section is blank and that is where you need to find out exactly how and where to retrieve the product key. The solution to this is pretty simple. Follow the steps below:.
Exit the Edition Upgrade Setup completely. Run a regular Setup using the new media (Paid Version Downloaded from Microsoft Download Center or Volume Licensing website). Proceed with the “ Setup Support Rules” and “ Installation Type“. Once you are on the “ Product Key” page, copy the product key on a notepad or somewhere secure for later usage. In some cases, you might see a blank product key using this method also.
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In that case, Perform the same steps on a different PC or on a Virtual Machine. Scenario: 2 When SQL Server is already installed In this method, you can use Power Shell to check the Product keys on both local and remote SQL Server. Go to and download the Power Shell script and run it on your environment to find out the product key. Find official SQL Server Documentation:. Download E-Book:.
Recently I had to find my original product key for MS SQL Management Studio 2008 in order to make a new installation, but I lost the key information I stored somewhere. So I tried to get the key from already installed product. First, I found the query for getting the key for Studio 2005, then following comments were including the key for 2008, but in 164-byte binary value After more Googling, I found this great post at Branch Bits and it was sharing a program that converts this binary value to product key! Anyway so I used it and installed successfully.
Here’s the query that gets the serial number in binary format: use master GO exec xpregread 'HKEYLOCALMACHINE','SOFTWARE Microsoft Microsoft SQL Server 100 Tools Setup','DigitalProductID' GO And here is the link that you can get the project and use it for converting serial number: P.S. For those who needs to find key of 2005 instance may use the free software named ProduKey. It works well for me. For further info, please refer to this question.